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InstantCube: a DSL to design cubes

During a conversation I expressed the idea of making a DSLs to model cubes by leveraging the “Oslo” platform – my needs was having a human readable source file, easy to compare if you have two versions of the same entity (cube, dimension, or something else). Chris pointed me to InstantCube, which seems exactly what I thought! The implementation is a little bit different, because it also creates the relational model behind the cube (and it could be too much for me in several cases), but having a DSL for defining SSAS entities is definitely a good idea!

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I came up with the same idea a few years ago. I've developed two previous DSLs using other platforms than "Oslo". I would say the most useful area for DSL is the ETL logics (which I so far have skipped in InstantCube).

The objective of InstantCube is to automate the development of cubes as much as possible, with a bit less control (relying on good default settings). However it could be extended with more optional settings.

I'd like to reverse engineer existing cubes (and SSIS packages!) just to be able to track changes between versions in a more understandable way.

It's a different approach than your, but I think it could be possible. However, there should be a complete VS integration, so that this proces would be transparent when you make check-in of source in the repository.

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About Marco Russo (SQLBI)

Marco Russo is a consultant, writer and trainer specialized in Business Intelligence with Microsoft technologies. He runs the SQLBI.COM website, which is dedicated to distribute resources useful for BI developers, like Integration Services components, Analysis Services models, tools, technical information and so on. Marco is certified as MCT, MCDBA, MCSD.NET, MCSA, MCSE+I.